A year in reading – 2012 – J. C. Greenway

It seems that ‘inspired by’ is the term to use when one is shamelessly borrowing another’s good idea. With that in mind, this post is inspired by/pinched from Sean Lotman’s wonderful post of the same name. You are encouraged to take a look at the original as well as this weak derivative.

Looking at my list, the first failure to note is that it doesn’t come close to Mr Lotman’s staggering 42 books. Shamefully, mine is barely half that. It is interesting that in the comments to the original post, the balance between reading and writing is mentioned and it is true that, for the first half of the year at least, writing took up almost every available moment of my free time. Then there was the temptation of reading long-form journalism on my phone instead of carrying physical books on commutes and journeys. Although some of the listed books were read on a Kindle app (being too lazy to buy yet another gadget) the majority of them were paper and ink and, however much technology adds to other areas of my life, I foresee that continuing.

Another notable trend is that, while reading will always be something done primarily for pleasure, there are words here that I took a more professional interest in. Mr Lotman talks about the joy of reading, saying that often, too many readers see it:

as a way to pass the time rather than an action worthwhile for its own sake.

Usually I would be in complete agreement, however other motivations for reading have intruded this year. My list contains a few books that were of interest for research purposes, or read in draft stage and edited, or – in perhaps the biggest leap of personal development – read in order to develop a hopefully interesting and stimulating literature curriculum. Teaching classes based on loved books, having hated everything school forced me to read in English class, was at times tough, although ultimately enjoyable. Still, it is rare for a book that you feel you ought to be reading to become as much of a favourite as one you are free to delight in.

This joy of discovery shows in the publication dates of many of these titles, few are contemporary, perhaps only a couple would have been marked ‘the book of the moment’ or reviewed by a Sunday newspaper. That is due to distance: picking up books via second-hand bookshops and swapping with fellow expats tends to rule out hardbacks and new releases. Many of my list were gifts or recommendations and there is something lovely about hearing ‘I think you will enjoy this book’ from a friend before finding that to be true.

Here then is my list of books read in 2012, in chronological order, with links to reviews I wrote along the way and some further thoughts following:

I managed 24 books, two for each month. Four were re-reads, six were ebooks, eight were purchased by me and the rest were passed on by friends.

Impossible to choose one favourite, but the books by Doris Lessing, Wu Ming and Knut Hamsun were particularly enjoyable, for wildly different reasons. With Lessing taking her ‘pursuit’ into a post-War London suburb, the Wu Ming viewing the American Revolution from an unconventional perspective and Hamsun’s anti-hero lurching around late 19th century Kristiania (Oslo), my love of stories set outside my own time is clearly demonstrated. Despite their differing subject matter, all three were lively, gripping tales, fascinating and relevant.

Publishers will tell you that compilations of short stories never sell, however a busy year meant this format was far easier to dip into and out of than a 900-page novel. From the Fiction Desk compilation, The Maginot Line, Benjamin Johncock’s The Rocket Man was a haunting tale of a small girl grappling with an uncertain future, soundtracked by Bowie. My first reading of a Helen Dunmore novel also provoked the first negative review I have ever been bothered to write, while Haruki Murakami demonstrated more flaws than claims to greatness and Will Wiles’ first book sadly did not make me long for another from him.

Finally, it is with a sense of guilt that I note that there are five downloaded but yet to be either started or finished books lurking on my Kindle app. This is something that I hope to address very shortly, as an extended holiday break in England with typically wintry weather offers little incentive to venture outdoors. With a little luck, 2013’s list will offer even more gems than this one.

A year in reading – 2012 – J. C. Greenway was last modified: June 18th, 2017 by J. C. Greenway

glad I’m not the only one who did this. I was assured it must be that because it was written by someone whose blog was entitled 10 minutes’ hate… (harsh, but perhaps fair if they’d genuinely spent a year in Reading)

That’s a good list! Sadly, it’s not just reading that has gone to the wayside as something modern humans can’t seem to do for its own sake. These days, if an activity isn’t for the sake of “getting something done” it’s pretty low on peoples’ priority lists.

That’s a good list! Sadly, it’s not just reading that has gone to the wayside as something modern humans can’t seem to do for its own sake. These days, if an activity isn’t for the sake of “getting something done” it’s pretty low on peoples’ priority lists.

That’s lucky on both counts! Hope you enjoy it. It’s an interesting re-read, because I first read it at 20 and now 15 years later I took very different things from the story. Let me know how you find it!

Same here, but I’ll usually give it a go. I think the only one who truly nailed it is Peter Jackson with his Lord of the Rings trilogy – and even then some of my favorite scenes were omitted. Ah, well, that’s life!

Just like 3arnowl I was expecting a post about living in a commuter town 50 minutes from London…lol!! Happy to see it was about books!! Excellent selection you have there, I have been planning to start reading the Fleming James Bond books… have to add those to my list!

I really liked your point about the library being a good place to discover something unexpected. I often go in with no idea what I will come out with and frequently come out with something I hadn’t heard of before I went in. Wonderful way to broaden the horizon so to speak.

Yup, by the looks of it, it is time for me to get a list too. Thanks Blogoshpere peer pressure! For me, it is going to be the Hobbit and the Lord of the rings, the Hunger games series. I’ll work out the others after I deal with Romeo and Juliet for school. Nice work 🙂

Sir Conan Doyle is very quickly making his way to the top of my list. I’d loved to hear your thoughts and suggestions, perhaps even some opinions on my recent reads: http://myonethousandlives.wordpress.com/Forgive me, I’m new to the blogging world. 🙂

I started it in the summer and it was winter when I was done. My fault for buying the 3-books-in-one volume so it was too blooming heavy to carry anywhere! Am mulling over a review to follow soon, but I had very mixed feelings about it…

Great list – I like the mix of old & more recent. I spend a lot of time in used book stores and like reading classics. I recently re-discovered G.G. Marquez, too, a book of short stories. Good to see him on your list. I also read an Aldous Huxley this year. We’re tracking!Have you read Robertson Davies, the Canadian author? I am about to re-read his Deptford Trilogy, which i used to adore. I’m interested by how many re-reads you had on your list. I rarely re-read a book because there are so many to discover. I want to do more of it.Thanks for sharing; congrats on FP!

THANK YOU, Melanie! A colleague was reading The Deptford Trilogy and I meant to get it but completely forgot. Will get on the case…And I love re-reading. Have to leave a decent gap so you can start to forget things about the writing and come to it almost fresh and yes, it can feel quite indulgent, but that’s probably part of the enjoyment!

I hate Brave New World. That just may be one of the worst books I`ve ever had the misfortune to stumble upon. I think the only books in your list I actually like at all are Sherlock Homes and The Princess Bride, which you hopefully read the full (not more popular abridged) version of?

Good job! Owing to the very poor reading rate over the past few years, reading 12 books in 2013 is one of my New Year resolutions. Looking at yours and others’ lists, I think I ought to take it up a notch. Peer pressure rules! 🙂

I set a goal of 50 books last year and accomplished it. That was stupid. It became about reacing the goal, rather than savouring the book. This year I am off to a much easier pace. It has taken me a week to get halfway through 19 minutes by Picout and I like it that way. Sometimes books need time to purcolate or the characters need to be mourned. 24 is a reasonable goal! Looking at your list, I have to say The Princess Bride was a laugh out loud book for me. I read it on a train trip across the country and was constantly disturbing people around me 🙂 I heart books!

C’mon, Lucky Jim may be have made me chuckle like an idiot in places, but does it feature a mama-chari-yakuza-armed-police bicycle chase through the mean streets of Abiko like Hana Walker’s Half Life 2:46?

I was lucky to be given an almost complete set by a library that needed to make space on the shelves. Excellent storytelling! Take a look at the links to myself and Mark Woff’s James Bons series at the bottom of this post: http://10mh.co.uk/2012/04/29/moonraker_ian_fleming/

Thanks Joel and pixelrites, agree with you that a spot of unfocussed browsing, be it in a library or book shop, will unearth gems. Somehow the ‘books other people bought’ thing on amazon doesn’t work quite as well…

Same here, but I’ll usually give it a go. I think the only one who truly nailed it is Peter Jackson with his Lord of the Rings trilogy – and even then some of my favorite scenes were omitted. Ah, well, that’s life!

THANK YOU, Melanie! A colleague was reading The Deptford Trilogy and I meant to get it but completely forgot. Will get on the case…And I love re-reading. Have to leave a decent gap so you can start to forget things about the writing and come to it almost fresh and yes, it can feel quite indulgent, but that’s probably part of the enjoyment!

Hey, great list! Was “Brave New World” a reread? I ask because I reread it this year as well. I also liked what you said about short stories. Not enough attention given to them and masters of the craft such as Lovecraft, Cheever, and others are lost in the much. Anywho, great post!

Thanks, I’m glad you liked it! Yes, I reread Brave New World because I was teaching it to a class of 17-18 year olds. I used it to get them started talking about other visions of the future they’d enjoyed and they came up with some great examples.

Hey, great list! Was “Brave New World” a reread? I ask because I reread it this year as well. I also liked what you said about short stories. Not enough attention given to them and masters of the craft such as Lovecraft, Cheever, and others are lost in the much. Anywho, great post!

In praise of librarian, you should check out the book “This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All,” by Marilyn Johnson. Save us, indeed! If at all interested, check out other book reviews on http://frayeddustjackets.wordpress.com

Great stuff. I’ve done something very similar for the past 2 years at http://folioreviews.wordpress.com. I try and keep track with “micro” reviews, some long ones, and at the end of the year, I divide the list up into ones I really liked, ones I quite liked, and ones I didn’t like. I haven’t come across a couple of the books on your list, but IQ84 is next in my pile.

Well written. You’ve got great list and enjoyed your post a lot. Reading is really fun and a relaxing way. It is an enriching experience and forget the real word even just for awhile. Congratulations for being on FP!

” I managed 24 books, two for each month. Four were re-reads, six were ebooks, eight were purchased by me and the rest were passed on by friends. ”nice inspiration, I think I just finished less than 10 books.

Did you download an app to my mental library? So many of the books you read are in my personal canon (Holmes, Bond, Fitzgerald, Huxley)… which is why I must point out that William GoldMAN abridged S. Morgenstern’s tale of adventure and true love. Though I’d pay good money to read what William GoldING would have done with the ROUSes.

I don’t really plan too much! I have a few ‘Christmas books’ that I’m enjoying and friends have passed me a couple and then I think I’ll have a try of the new Hilary Mantel and we’ll see how it goes from there.

I have written myself a top 50 list for 2013 that I am hoping to get through! It’s been great so far, until I realised that 50 means almost one a week… not even on track already! Luckily I am going away for 4 months holiday and have loaded a fair few on my kindle! Wish me luck 😉In response to @Aileen Donegan above, I totally agree about The Great Gatsby and worried maybe it was just me that didn’t get what the hype was about. I can’t even bring myself to finish it. I appreciate that some people might look for deeper meaning in the words, but a story in essence should capture and captivate and that book unfortunately doesn’t do it for me. Cue literary outcry!

[…] my early protestations to the contrary, the eReader is a very useful machine. That said, as last year’s list contained six ebooks while this year I downloaded five, perhaps I am not quite ready to give up on […]